Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the notification provided to his Department and the Electoral Commission from the Returning Officer for Brighton and Hove City Council of the late delivery of 1,423 postal votes in May 2023; if he will place a copy of his response to the Returning Officer in the House of Commons Library; and what steps he has taken to establish the cause of the late delivery of the voting packs.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Returning Officer for Brighton and Hove City Council is responsible for the conduct of elections to the local council, including the arrangements for the issue and receipt of postal votes. The Government recognises the important role that effective mail deliveries have in the overall running of electoral events, and we work with Royal Mail nationally to ensure they have appropriate arrangements in place, though it would not be appropriate for the Secretary of State to take the place of the role of the Returning Officer in relation to a specific, local incident.
This issue was raised on a 'for information' basis in an email to DLUHC, the Electoral Commission and the Association of Electoral Administrators at official level as part of ongoing dialogue on delivery of elections. Royal Mail subsequently investigated the matter, and we understand they responded directly to the Returning Officer in June 2023 with their findings.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, have they made of the cultural and economic welfare of the permanent residents of the Scilly Isles.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is committed to levelling up all parts of our country. We have also recognised the unique circumstances and needs of island communities and their residents, including by establishing the Islands Forum. The Forum is a mechanism for discussing the challenges and opportunities faced by island communities, and for considering how by working together local government and the UK Government (and where relevant the devolved administrations) can support the people of islands across the UK.
The Isles of Scilly has been awarded up to £6 million to fund a museum and cultural centre on St Mary’s. In addition, the final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £6.8 million to the Council of the Isles of Scilly, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £0.5 million or 8% in cash terms on 2023-24. This includes an additional £150,000 in funding in recognition of the unique circumstances facing our island authorities, and their physical separation from the mainland.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many local authority owned buildings under 11 metres are being considered for demolition as a result of the costs to remediate life-critical fire safety defects.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Following the passing of the Building Safety Act, we sought representations from leaseholders in buildings under 11 metres who believed there were building safety concerns. Potential issues with 160 buildings have been raised with the department so far.
Having reviewed the cases raised with us, 31 required Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) audits, which we have commissioned and 27 of those audits have been completed. In many cases, the concerns raised with us were found either not to be building safety remediation issues or works were not actually proposed by the freeholder.
With regards to the average time taken for the audit to be completed by the department, this will depend upon how quickly the relevant information for the audit to proceed is received. Audits are dependent on the information from third parties like the resident, freeholder or managing agent. Where a FRAEW is provided, our assessor will usually complete an audit within two weeks.
To date, our audits have found that only three buildings under 11 metres require remediation.
We are in conversation with building owners and developers about funding solutions that protect leaseholders. We stress that the responsibility for the costs of fixing historical building safety defects should rest with building owners. They should not pass these costs on to leaseholders but should seek to recover costs from those who were responsible for building unsafe homes.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to paragraph 5.140 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, when plans to publish details of funding for Newton-Le-Willows.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Prime Minister’s Long Term Plan for Towns will see up to £20 million of funding and support from the Government for Newton-Le-Willows over the next decade. I wrote to the Member for St Helen’s North and the Leader and Chief Executive of St Helen’s Borough Council on 19 March 2024 setting out next steps for developing the Long Term Plan for their town. This included details of the funding that will be provided for Newton-Le-Willows.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to coordinate activity across Government in order to improve the UK’s preparedness for extreme wildfire events.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office are the lead Government Department for Wildfire Response and own the National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA) wildfire risk.
This Wildfire Framework outlines the work being undertaken to improve the UK’s preparedness for wildfires in England. The Home Office works closely with other departments and key stakeholders including Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities to mitigate the risk of wildfire.
The Home Office have committed to scoping a wildfire strategy and action plan by mid 2024, with support from Defra and its agencies. This commitment is outlined in the third National Adaptation Plan.
The Home Office maintains regular engagement with National Bodies including the National Fire Chiefs Council and England and Wales Wildfire Forum to monitor and review sector led improvements to wildfire response and mitigation.
Asked by: Antony Higginbotham (Conservative - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2024 to Question 17987 on Homelessness: Burnley, if he will provide a link to the relevant page on his Department’s website where allocations of grant funding to Burnley Borough Council are published; and whether his Department publishes information on other support provided to local authorities on gov.uk.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Burnley Borough Council have received £1,080,784 in Homelessness Prevention Grant funding since the first year of the grant, 2021/22. Burnley Borough Council have also been beneficiaries of up to £650,497 through direct allocations and as members of joint local authority bids in Rough Sleeping Initiative funding since they were first funded in 2020/21.
The funding allocations for the Homelessness Prevention Grant are published here: 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24-2024/25. The funding allocations for the Rough Sleeping Initiative are published here:2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23-2024/25.
Policy, guidance, research and grant funding allocations for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping are published here Homelessness and rough sleeping - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Antony Higginbotham (Conservative - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2024 to Question 17987 on Homelessness: Burnley, how much funding his Department provided to Burnley Borough Council through the (a) Homelessness Prevention Grant and (b) Rough Sleeping Initiative since 2019.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Burnley Borough Council have received £1,080,784 in Homelessness Prevention Grant funding since the first year of the grant, 2021/22. Burnley Borough Council have also been beneficiaries of up to £650,497 through direct allocations and as members of joint local authority bids in Rough Sleeping Initiative funding since they were first funded in 2020/21.
The funding allocations for the Homelessness Prevention Grant are published here: 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24-2024/25. The funding allocations for the Rough Sleeping Initiative are published here:2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23-2024/25.
Policy, guidance, research and grant funding allocations for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping are published here Homelessness and rough sleeping - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to scrapping tax breaks for all second homes, and not just short-term lets, as a further step in dealing with the rural housing affordability crisis.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has announced that it will abolish the Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHL) tax regime, equalising the tax treatment of landlords with short-term holiday lets and those with standard residential properties.
More broadly, the government has recently introduced a new power which will allow local authorities to double the council tax charge on second homes from 1 April 2025. In 2016, the government also introduced a three percent Stamp Duty Land Tax surcharge on purchases of additional homes.
The government has no current plans to make further changes to the tax system with respect to second homes. All government tax policy remains under review.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much and what proportion of levelling up funding allocated to Northern Ireland has been for projects within Strangford constituency.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The UK Government is investing over £15 billion in a suite of complementary Levelling Up projects to help grow the economy, create jobs, improve transport, provide skills training and support local businesses.
Overall, Northern Ireland has received around £435 million in Levelling Up funding and Strangford constituency has benefited from this funding, through a range of funds. In addition, a number of DLUHC funds are being made available to the Northern Ireland Executive as part of the financial package, further increasing the spending power available to the Executive and allowing it to invest against its own priorities. The full list of the UK Government funds which are being made available to the Executive is at gov.uk.
Strangford constituency benefits from a share of UKSPF funding of around £104 million for Northern Ireland.
In addition, Northern Ireland has benefited from £150 million funding through the Levelling Up Fund, which includes £3.2 million for Ards and North Down Borough Council’s pedestrian and cycle Green-ways and £5.1 million towards Ulster Rugby’s Club Capital Improvement Project, as well as £30 million set aside from Round 3 towards the financial package for the restored executive.
The Community Renewal Fund has provided £12 million in funding to Northern Ireland, which includes projects within the Council areas in the Strangford constituency and projects Northern Ireland wide worth £6.75 million, where the benefits will be felt in Strangford constituency.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the number of low-rise homes in England clad in flammable Unplasticized Polyvinyl Chloride panels, (2) emerging acute fire risks, as evidenced by the fire at Moss Hall Grove in the London Borough of Barnet, and (3) the funding of appropriate remedial action.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We are aware of the action being taken by Barnet Council and continue to engage closely with them on the steps they are taking, following the Moss Hall Grove fire in June 2023. The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is aware and is keeping the situation under review, in line with their duty under the Building Safety Act to keep the safety and standards of all buildings under review.
The department will continue to liaise with the BSR and Local Authorities as appropriate to determine whether further action is necessary.
Local authorities, including Barnet Council, are responsible for keeping the housing conditions in their area under review with a view to identifying any action that may need to be taken by them. Local authorities have a longstanding duty where they are building owners to manage building safety and performance risks of all kinds in their buildings, and should continue to do so in a proportionate, risk-based, and evidence-based manner.
Local authorities are also responsible for managing their own budgets and delivering on their responsibilities. This includes their duty as building owners to assess their buildings and keep them safe, and to take any enforcement action they deem necessary.